Aruba.it Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista topped off European winter testing on top of the WorldSBK times as Wednesday’s action concluded at Portimao.
Bautista was back in charge almost as soon as the final day got up to speed on the Algarve. The reigning champion’s 1’39.035 record breaking effort - set on his 13th lap and before the Spaniard suffered a turn seven crash - sat over half a second faster than his teammate’s best of the previous afternoon. Both Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea and said teammate Michael Rinaldi had improved to match the leading Ducati with just a tenth separating the trio by lunch, with all three running under lap record pace.
Toprak Razgatlioglu was best of the rest in fourth, equally under the record after a handful of laps and aiming for the top three before Rinaldi denied him. The Pata Yamaha rider recording a 1’39.4 effort with fellow R1 rider Andrea Locatelli less than three tenths back.
It was a position the pair would hold till the close of play as the riders behind bickered for the remaining top ten honours. Honda’s Iker Lecuona suffered his own final sector spill before recovering to initially head teammate Xavi Vierge and second KRT man Alex Lowes before GRT Yamaha’s Remy Gardner improved to claim seventh with a 1’40.202 - four tenths up on the previous day. Tom Sykes found his mojo on his return to Kawasaki, placing the Puccetti ZX-10R in ninth, narrowly ahead of factory rider Lowes who opted not to push for a time attack as he worked through the comprehensive testing plan.
Loris Baz claimed fastest BMW honours on the Bonovo machine ahead of Michael van der Mark’s factory effort while Scott Redding faced technical issues in the morning run on his Rokit sponsored M1000RR, bringing out the red flag.
Nicolo Bulega continued the morning’s record breaking trend in WorldSSP as he set a 1’42.919 on his Aruba Panigale V2 before improving again three tenths faster as the day wound down. Althea’s Federico Caricasulo maintained his testing challenge from second with Barni’s Yari Montella completing the all-Italian and all-Ducati top three.
WorldSBK Portimao test - Wednesday
1 1 A. BAUTISTA DUCATI SBK 1 1:39.035 13 45 166.92
2 65 J. REA - 1 KAWASAKI SBK 2 1:39.044 22 0.009 0.009 68 166.91
3 21 M. RINALDI - 2 DUCATI SBK 3 1:39.144 23 0.109 0.100 45 166.74
4 54 TOPRAK - 2 YAMAHA SBK 4 1:39.441 12 0.406 0.297 46 166.24
5 55 LOCATELLI - 1 YAMAHA SBK 7 1:39.705 25 0.670 0.116 83 165.80
6 7 I. LECUONA - 2 HONDA SBK 8 1:39.803 18 0.768 0.098 42 165.64
7 87 R. GARDNER - 1 YAMAHA SBK 11 1:40.202 62 1.167 0.014 67 164.98
8 97 X. VIERGE - 2 HONDA SBK 12 1:40.237 32 1.202 0.035 91 164.92
9 6 T. SYKES - 2 KAWASAKI SBK 13 1:40.586 41 1.551 0.349 43 164.35
10 22 A. LOWES - 1 KAWASAKI SBK 14 1:40.599 27 1.564 0.013 56 164.33
11 76 L. BAZ - 1 BMW SBK 15 1:40.652 11 1.617 0.053 40 164.24
12 60 M. van der MARK - 2 BMW SBK 17 1:40.711 6 1.676 0.018 30 164.14
13 5 P. OETTL - 1 DUCATI SBK 18 1:40.789 20 1.754 0.078 67 164.02
14 31 G. GERTOFF - 1 BMW SBK 20 1:40.823 16 1.788 0.023 62 163.96
15 77 D. AEGERTER - 2 YAMAHA SBK 21 1:40.844 54 1.809 0.021 61 163.93
16 45 S. REDDING - 2 BMW SBK 24 1:41.002 4 1.967 0.048 19 163.67
17 34 L. BALDASSARRI YAMAHA SBK 25 1:41.218 46 2.183 0.216 69 163.32
18 28 B. RAY YAMAHA SBK 26 1:41.293 33 2.258 0.075 43 163.20
19 47 A. BASSANI - 1 DUCATI SBK 28 1:41.394 40 2.359 0.071 60 163.04
20 9 D. PETRUCCI - 3 DUCATI SBK 29 1:41.439 8 2.404 0.045 33 162.97
WorldSSP Portimao Test - Wednesday
36 11 N. BULEGA - 1 DUCATI SSP 1 1:42.636 10 3.601 0.128 19 161.07
40 64 F. CARICASULO DUCATI SSP 3 1:43.127 44 4.092 0.208 59 160.30
42 55 Y. MONTELLA - 2 DUCATI SSP 4 1:43.386 4 4.351 0.136 27 159.90
44 61 C. ONCU KAWASAKI SSP 5 1:43.583 45 4.548 0.044 53 159.59
46 3 R. de ROSA DUCATI SSP 6 1:43.628 33 4.593 0.003 62 159.52
47 62 S. MANZI YAMAHA SSP 7 1:43.771 46 4.736 0.143 73 159.30
50 94 V. DEBISE YAMAHA SSP 9 1:44.106 27 5.071 0.001 66 158.79
51 9 J. NAVARRO YAMAHA SSP 10 1:44.809 33 5.774 0.703 60 157.73
52 32 O. BAYLISS DUCATI SSP 11 1:44.978 38 5.943 0.169 81 157.47
54 22 F. FULIGNI DUCATI SSP 12 1:45.514 31 6.479 0.131 67 156.67
55 73 M. KOFLER DUCATI SSP 13 1:46.234 21 7.199 0.720 66 155.61
